Bobbit Worm – Your new nightmare

The Bobbit Worm. A cute and cuddly name for a cute and cuddly worm? Nope… just nope.

The Bobbit worm is probably the most terrifying creature in existence. Sometimes I just have to wonder what was God thinking when He made animals that haunt my dreams and make me terrified of swimming in the open ocean (yet again). Honestly, the collective imaginations of all the Hollywood SPFX creature creators combined just cannot compete with what already exists in Nature. They should all just resign today.

The Bobbit Worm (Eunice Aphroditois) is an aquatic ambush predator with really, really ridiculously terrifying jaws (truly, I can’t emphasis this enough). It buries itself in loose sediment and waits until an unsuspecting Nemo or Dory just happens to meander close by. While they enjoy a leisurely Sunday afternoon swim – Hell’s jaws are waiting.

It gets crazier… The worm’s body has poisonousness spines running down its entire length. It also pumps toxins into its prey (if those jaws weren’t bad enough).

People in the know believe these things can grow to lengths of 3 meters. What size jaws would a 3 metre long Bobbit worm have? What prey could they catch and kill (in the most nightmarish way imaginable)?

Even if your feet remain firmly on dry ground, you are not safe from these terrors. A man could not believe his eyes when a 1.2 meter long Bobbit Worm emerged from behind a rock in his fish tank. The creature was hiding in the live coral that he purchased from a local pet store two years previously!

Oh, and lastly one more interesting piece of trivia. How did this worm get it’s name? It was named after Lorena Bobbitt, the woman made famous for cutting off a particular part of her husband’s anatomy back in 1993.